For a comprehensive list of activities in and around DeLand click here

New Feature:

Area artists and writers.

Submit samples of your art or short stories in the form of graphic .jpg files or PDF for text to 2000shadesofgray@gmail.com for publication in our blog.

Sample art Aboriginal tapestry from Australia.

Please accompany your personal and contact information and a statement that you are the original artist or writer and own the rights to the work. Only verified original pieces will be published. 2000SOG will create a new Art Section and Creative Writing section. Submissions from artists under 18 years must be accompanied by references from a responsible adult. All works submitted remain the property of the artist and may be deleted at your request by email to 2000shadesofgray@gmail.com

We will need phone and email information from artists and website addresses where applicable. For Sale items may be included. Limit 5 pieces per artist in each category.

Please try to keep your files small. Large text files may be zipped for emailing.

This should be fun!

BARBERVILLE FAMILY FARM SWAP MEET

Come join the agriculture family of the Barberville Family Farm Swap & Market this Saturday morning, meet your local farmers and ranchers & enjoy some of the best homemade cooked goods that you will find along with organic, hydro, vegan foods.

Several Nurseries’ will have just about any landscaping plants/trees that you will need, and there will be plenty of livestock, fowl, tools, etc.

Everybody can sell at this farm market, only $5.00 donation and there will be a farmer only raffle at noon where a single farmer goes home with the $, after operating expenses. (Please, only farm, agricultural related) If you have any questions, call Lloyd at 386-469-9409.

Please check out our web site at www.farmswapmarket.com, it is always kept updated with new information and our Face book page is a great way to stay in touch with your farmers and let them know what your looking to buy or sell at this weeks farm market.

Tell a friend to meet you at the Barberville Family Farm Swap & Market this Saturday morning !

Tech DeLand is a group of technology enthusiasts in the Downtown DeLand area meeting once a month to encourage a better understanding of technology. This month’s meeting will be at Cafe DaVinci from 6pm-9pm. This month’s topics are Child Themes in WordPress for Podcasters and an Introduction to Angular.js. For more information, please visit: techdeland.com

Friday

Downtown DeLand is the place to be on 4th Fridays! Enjoy the Art Walk along the Boulevard, see demonstrations, and meet artists hosted by our local merchants. Continue your stroll to Artisan Alley for more festivities including the farmer’s market and Art in the Alley. www.FourthFridayDeLand.com

January 23 – Tech DeLandJanuary 24 – 4th Friday DeLand January 24-February 9 – Sands Theater Company Presents: The 39 Steps Mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, add a dash of Monty Python and you have The 39 Steps, a fast-paced whodunit for anyone who loves the magic of theater! At the Athens Theatre. www.athensdeland.com January 31- February 9 – DeLand Craft Beer Week There will be a week full of events leading up to the DeLand Craft Beer Festival including a homebrew competition, kickoff party, bottle share, beer scavenger hunt “meet the reps” reception, DeLand Craft Beer Festival after party & hangover brunch. More Info

February:

February 8 – DeLand Craft Beer Festival Featuring craft beers, rare & vintage beers, imports, educational break out sessions, live music from The Republik, live art by Paleface & a home brew competition. Must be 21 to enter. No pets. No children. Held in Artisan Alley, Downtown DeLand. General admission tickets are $35. VIP tickets are $55 and also include admission to a Rare and Vintage Pairing Party on Thursday February 6 (limited qty available). Pick up tickets at the MainStreet DeLand Association or reserve online at: www.delandcraftbeerfestival.com .February 12 – Wine, Women & Chocolate Be a Downtown Diva the second Wednesday of every month from 5:30-7:30pm and discover what downtown DeLand has to offer! Enjoy special sales, discounts, giveaways and other promotions. winewomenandchocolatedeland.com

February 27 – Tech DeLand Tech DeLand is a group of technology enthusiasts in the Downtown DeLand area meeting once a month to encourage a better understanding of technology. For meeting locations and speaker information, please visit: techdeland.com February 28 – 4th Friday DeLand Downtown DeLand is the place to be on 4th Fridays! Enjoy the Art Walk along the Boulevard, see demonstrations, and meet artists hosted by our local merchants. Continue your stroll to Artisan Alley for more festivities including the farmer’s market and Art in the Alley. www.FourthFridayDeLand.com

TIME: At Kyoto University scientists harvested stem cells from mice and altered genes to create cells very similar to the germ cells that generate sperm in humans.

]]>https://2000shadesofgray.wordpress.com/2012/10/06/stem-cell-miracles/feed/02000shadesofgray330px-Stem_cell_treatments245234534PEOPLE WITH PETS LIVE LONGERhttps://2000shadesofgray.wordpress.com/2012/06/06/people-with-pets-live-longer/
https://2000shadesofgray.wordpress.com/2012/06/06/people-with-pets-live-longer/#respondWed, 06 Jun 2012 15:30:38 +0000http://2000shadesofgray.wordpress.com/?p=1071The answer could be to adopt a pet. Here is your opportunity to enrich and possibly extend your life … and provide a home for an animal that will give you unconditional love forever. Your original cost is deeply discounted and all these animals are vetted and ready to love.

“Ron Burgher had his own version of the dial-up cell phone for seniors in this month’s Senior Stuff.
Here is the newest on cell-phone technology. One day I pointed my cell phone at the payment swiper at WalMart — perhaps in a pre-cognitive gesture of the future of PayPal. Or maybe I just spend too much time pressing the TV box buttons to find a decent program on the BrightHouse cable system. I don’t even use the Texting feature on my old LG Shine.

I understand that cell-phone payment at check-out is available in some European countries and in India.

Some local businesses already have the SQUARE that enables you to swipe your card on the plug-in attachment on the vendor’s cell phone. I used one at Dr. Steve Hayman’s office. Dr. Hayman says he loves the convenience for his practice and his clients.” Blogger 2000shadesofgray.wordpress.com

PayPal Here Turns Phones Into Credit Card Readers

Joanna Stern/ABC News

You’re likely familiar with PayPal as an online payment system. The company’s logos are frequently found on eBay pages or on other websites. Click it and you can pay big or small retailers online via credit card or checking account.

But the equivalent of those online PayPal buttons are going to start showing up in the world outside of your computer screen. Or at least that’s the company’s mission.

“The mobile phone has revolutionized the way we shop,” PayPal’s director of communications Anuj Nayar told ABC News. “If you are making a purchase from your mobile phone in store, what sort of purchase is that? Is it an online purchase? The reality is it is all about multichannel retail.”

And multiple options is exactly PayPal’s strategy. The company has a number of solutions that allow consumers to use the service to pay away from the computer, but its newest one — PayPal Here — allows small merchants and independent sellers to take credit cards right on their phones.

The entire solution is based around a small triangle-shaped dongle, which plugs into an iPhone. When plugged into the headphone jack, sellers can swipe a customer’s credit card right along the top, and then process the payment on the phone using PayPal’s backend. The dongle is fully encrypted.

A companion app provides a place for the customer to confirm the transaction and sign. The same app allows the seller to invoice the buyer or record a cash transaction. While PayPal’s Internet services paved the way for small sellers to open up shop, the dongle and just an iPhone now let small stores, street merchants and others to create a very mobile, electronic cash register.

If a merchant doesn’t have the new dongle they can use the app to just take a picture of the credit card. The little triangle itself doesn’t cost anything, but sellers are required to pay PayPal a flat rate of 2.7 percent on any transaction. PayPal Here will be rolling out soon to select small merchants. It will also be available for Android phones very soon, says Nayar.

But that’s not all PayPal has been up to. It recently updated its original PayPal app — not to be confused with the PayPal Here meant for merchants. A new “local” feature lets consumers pay by just tapping the app on their phone if they are in a store that uses the PayPal Here service. Merchants can then accept payment by tapping the shopper’s name and picture.

Other companies, like Square, provide similar tools to sellers. However, PayPal isn’t deterred. ”Shopping is going to fundamentally change more in the next three years than it has in the previous 15,” Nayar said. “The last major innovation in retail was the credit card, and we think we are about to start the next revolution in retail.”

Seniors looking to fill the empty spaces in retirement might find beekeeping a profitable and entertaining hobby. A new club for beekeepers is forming in this area now. There are many benefits to keeping bees. Everyone of all ages can keep bees. If you have a bee sting allergy, you might want to start an ant farm instead.

The Bee Hive blog, “give bees a chance” has information on the history of beekeeping, modern methods, what flowers bees love, the anatomy of the bee and many other facts. There are also links to some other major beekeeping sites including Ten Amazing Bee Facts.

Individuals and communities could cooperate in a beekeeping enterprise. When the club starts meeting there will be a lot of information shared. The weather in Florida is ideal for bees. There is still enough garden and farm growth to sustain bees food supplies. Go to the link below to read for yourself. http://givebeesachance.blogspot.com/

There’s a very small structure deep in the center of our brains called the hippocampus. It’s smaller than your pinkie, but it plays an absolutely essential role in learning and memory. The hippocampus encodes new information so that we can recall it later. Without a hippocampus, we would be unable to form new memories; we’d only be able to remember the old ones.

An elderly couple holds hands while walking along a Berlin street. A recent study showed that walking grows the region of the brain that archives memories.

As part of normal aging, the hippocampus shrinks. And this shrinkage speeds up as we grow older, foreshadowing memory problems and dementias like Alzheimer’s disease.

But there’s been some good news in the past decade: Scientists have discovered that in certain areas of the aging brain, new cells are born and grow throughout life. Neuroscientist Peter Snyder, a researcher at Brown University’s Alpert Medical School and Rhode Island Hospital, says the hippocampus is one of those brain areas that continue to form new cells and make new connections between cells.

“What we’re finding is that of all of these noninvasive ways of intervening, it is exercise that seems to have the most efficacy at this point — more so than nutritional supplements, vitamins and cognitive interventions,” says Snyder, who studies what we can do to maintain memory as our brains age.

Power Of Exercise

Snyder says several studies have been published recently on the power of exercise on the aging brain.

“The literature on exercise is just tremendous,” he says. “What we find is that with exercise — with aerobic exercise, a moderate amount on a regular basis — there are chemical changes that occur in the brain that promote the growth of new neurons in [the hippocampus].”

The major chemical change in the hippocampus during aerobic exercise is an increase in a brain protein called BDNF, which acts like a fertilizer during the birth of new brain cells by nourishing new connections between neurons.

Some of the most provocative evidence on the power of exercise on the brain comes from a study just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by neuroscientist Art Kramer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Kramer and his colleagues have documented the impact of exercise on the growth of the hippocampus in a small group of elderly people over the course of one year.

He adds none had dementia or memory problems when they entered the study. “They were relatively healthy, but certainly ‘couch potatoes’ would fit as a label.”

Getting Couch Potatoes Moving

One of those “couch potatoes” who volunteered for the study was Gregory Stanton, a 66-year-old semi-retired college professor. He admits to not exercising regularly but counters that he was physically quite active remodeling his home. So he refers to himself as “a semi-couch potato.”

Stanton and the other 120 men and women in the study ranged from 60 to 80 years old. When they entered the study, they were randomly divided into two groups.

“One was the aerobic exercise group,” Kramer says. “Those were people who walked further and faster as time went on. And the others in our control group were in a toning, stretching and light-strengthening group.”

Stanton was randomly assigned to the aerobic exercise group.

“Basically, it’s walking a track in one of the gym facilities,” Stanton says. He and the others in the aerobic group walked the track for about 40 minutes three times a week for a year. Stanton says he averaged about 3 miles each session. After each session, he was breathing hard and had worked up a sweat, he says.

The idea was for each participant to walk fast enough to reach aerobic exercise level, Kramer explains, which is generally considered to be 70 percent of one’s maximum heart rate.

Walkers Fared Better

All the participants in the study had MRI brain scans done before the study began and again a year later when the study ended. Then the researchers analyzed the MRI data. “What we found,” Kramer says, “is that individuals in the aerobic group showed increases in the volume of their hippocampus.”

The increase in volume — again for the aerobic but not for the non-aerobic group — was about 2 percent.

Related NPR Stories

The Aging Brain Is Less Quick, But More Shrewd

Neuroscientists have found that as the brain matures, the ability to reason and empathize improve.

Campers celebrate their birthdays.

Camp For Alzheimer’s Patients Isn’t About Memories

Staffers of a camp for dementia patients say it’s all about the feeling campers have after leaving.

Sen. Richard Lugar ran in the Capital Challenge 5k race in 2008

Many scientists are still optimistic about prevention, partly because they are also considering research done on animals.

At about the time the panel was releasing its report, a 78-year-old senator was doing something he hopes is good for his brain.

Dick Lugar running in 5K

Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) was competing in an annual charity race a few miles from Capitol Hill. He’s been a runner since grade school and says he thinks exercise helps him remember a lot of stuff, including “the names and places of thousands of people and events that I bring up frequently in the course of debate.

“It’s very helpful to have that kind of historical knowledge of my constituency, as well as of the world,” Lugar said.

How Exercise Might Help Keep Alzheimer’s At Bay

Scientists are trying to figure out how physical and mental exercise protects the brain.

“The 2 percent increase we can think of as turning back the clock about two years,” Kramer says.

The increased volume was found in the anterior, or front part, of the hippocampus. That’s the area of the hippocampus that has been shown to grow as a function of exercise in several animal studies.

By comparison, “the individuals in the control group — in the toning and stretching group — lost about 1.5 percent [of their hippocampal volume],” Kramer says. “So we can think of it as about a 3.5 percent difference compared to those individuals who didn’t benefit aerobically.”

The results are small but suggestive. This finding shows that not only did the aerobic exercise protect against normal shrinkage, but also that new cells were added to the hippocampus. The researchers also saw a significant increase in that important brain-fertilizing chemical BDNF in the plasma of those in the aerobic exercise group — but not in the control group.

Impact On Memory

But did the growth in the hippocampus translate into improvements in memory? Both groups were given memory tests before and after the yearlong exercise program. Kramer says these tests looked specifically at a type of memory called “spatial memory,” which records information about our environment, like the layout of the neighborhood or the interior of the grocery store.

At the start of the study, both the aerobic and the non-aerobic group scored similarly on the spatial memory test. But after the yearlong program, the group that did aerobic exercises had improved significantly on its spatial memory tests, bettering its own scores from a year earlier. The non-aerobic group had not improved in memory after a year of stretching, toning and lightweight lifting.

As for “semi-couch potato” Stanton, who’d been in the aerobic group, he says he didn’t notice any improvement in his memory. He still has problems remembering people’s names. But he did notice he had more physical stamina after the yearlong aerobic walking program.

In spite of this, Stanton says he still doesn’t maintain a regular exercise regimen. He says while he knows it’s good for him, he, like many of us, can’t find the time. He’s just too busy.

It’s time to get ready for the “Great Bowls of Fire” Chili Cook Off in downtown DeLand, Florida.

Be sure to mark your calendar for this event as we are moving the date to Saturday, October 8, 2011.

This festive, family event draws competitors and visitors from all over Central Florida. The only change is that we will not be hosting a CASI sanctioned event but instead will focus on showcasing an Open Chili competition between area cooks, businesses and organizations.

Plans are being made to make this the most successful and most exciting Chili Cook Off that we have ever had. The web site with all the new information will be up and running as soon as possible and we will let you know when that happens.

So SAVE THE DATE, Saturday, October 8, 2011, and we will look to seeing you then.

Thanks so much,

The West Volusia Historical Society and

The MainStreet DeLand Association.

Rotary Club of DeLand serves John Meyer, and Gery Walker

]]>https://2000shadesofgray.wordpress.com/2011/07/29/great-bowls-of-fire-chili-cook-off/feed/02000shadesofgraychili logoheaderajohnmeyerat chilicookoffMore Ways to Have a Better Lifehttps://2000shadesofgray.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/more-ways-to-have-a-better-life/
https://2000shadesofgray.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/more-ways-to-have-a-better-life/#respondMon, 27 Jun 2011 13:47:58 +0000http://2000shadesofgray.wordpress.com/?p=242Ten Life-Enhancing Things You Can Do in Ten Minutes or Less
By Barton Goldsmith, Ph.D.
Created Apr 17 2010 – 9:48am

It usually takes us much longer to change our moods than we’d like it to take. Here are ten things you can do in ten minutes or less that will have a positive emotional effect on you and those you love.

1. Watch “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch. See it online at Oprah.com. This is a deeply moving segment that may be the best ten minutes you’ve ever invested in front of a computer.

2. Spend a little while watching the sunset with your mate. Nothing extra is necessary. Just sit and take in the natural beauty of the sky and appreciate being able to share it with the one you love.

3. Sit quietly by yourself. It doesn’t really matter where or when. Just let your feelings bubble up and then experience the thoughts flowing out of your mind. Clearing your head and heart will give you extra energy to get through the rest of the day.

4. Write a thank you note to your mate. When was the last time you thanked your partner for just being who he or she is and being with you? Doing this in writing will give your partner something to cherish for the rest of his or her life.

5. Take out your oldest family photo album and look through it. The experience will fill you with fond memories and perhaps make you a bit wistful for days gone by.

6. Play with a child. Most kids have short attention spans; ten minutes of quality time from a loving adult can make their day. It will also help you stay in touch with the child inside of you.

7. Visualize or imagine a positive outcome for any issue. Medical doctors recommend visualization to patients with chronic and potentially fatal illnesses. If it can help them, it can do the same for you.

8. Go to bed with the one you love ten minutes earlier than usual. Then spend that time just holding each other. Let the feeling of warmth from your mate move through you.

9. Hang out by some water. Studies show that hospital patients who can see a natural body of water from their beds get better at a 30 percent faster rate. If you’re not near the coast or a lake, try taking a bath. Doing so is also healing.

10. Get your body moving. Shake, twist, and jump around. Let yourself feel the joy of moving to your favorite music, or just the sounds in your head. Run, walk, and bike to your hearts content. You will live longer and love it more.

Summer Camp started this week but there are still openings available for upcoming weeks in three different age categories.

Two week session teen workshop programs-ages 13 to 16 on Mondays through Fridays from 1:00pm to 4:00pm are available.

One week Camp Create programs-ages 6 to 12 on Mondays through Fridays from 9:00am to 4:00pm and the Camp Create-ages 4 and 5 programs on Mondays through Fridays from 9:00am to 11:30am still has openings.

Make a Creative Investment in the Life of a Child. Spark a child’s creativity by giving the gift of a scholarship. Art is an exciting and essential part of the learning process.

Now more than ever your tax deductibledonation will allow us to provide scholarships for children in Volusia County who could not otherwise afford to attend. Please help by making your donation today! Contact us at (386) 734-4371

LIMITED

CAMP CREATE

SCHOARSHIPS

AVAILABLE

CONTACT US

FOR

DETAILS

Funding Provided In Part By The

Cultural Council of

Volusia County

Three New Exhibits Open

The Museum of Florida Art has opened three new exhibits. Two of the exhibits will remain on display through Sunday, October 30. Habits and Habitat which is on loan from the Gulf Coast Museum of Art Collection and the St. Petersburg College Foundation will close 10 weeks earlier on Sunday, August 21. All three of the exhibitions are sponsored by the Beck Family Foundation and The Jaffe Family Foundation.

JOHN WILTON’S M&M’s

This exhibition in the Chris Harris Gallery on the lower floor gives gallery-goers an opportunity to participate in a “Mix and Match” experience by arranging and re-arranging a unique system of Modular Art Panels (MAPs). The MAPs incorporate various types of imagery and media, such as digital photography, acrylic painting and silkscreen. Members of the public are encouraged to play with themes, shapes, colors and patterns as they recreate the look of the show. The possibilities of ever-changing diptychs, triptychs and polytychs will be multiplied throughout the months that the exhibition is on display.

John Wilton, a retired professor of digital media at Daytona State College, is well known for his multi-media works, digital photography and video. His paintings, often free-association collages of personal impressions and cultural icons, mimic the barrage of popular images we encounter in our multi-media age. Wilton’s current work aims to involve the viewers in the creative process, by mixing and matching elements in ways that seem right to them. Unlike “traditional” art, there is no “right way” to recreate each piece or grouping. The show will be a free-association experience, intended as an affirmation of life and art.

HABITS and HABITAT

Watchdog, Mixed Media/Ceramic by Mary Engle, 1995

This presentation of the Gulf Coast Museum of Art Collection and St. Petersburg College Foundation will show, through an artist’s hands, how ordinary objects are used as a metaphor for everyday life and are often given great importance through choice of medium or the way the art is executed. The exhibit will be located in the Main Gallery on the lower level through Sunday, August 21 only.

Daily life, as seen through the artist’s eyes, becomes a very personal and common theme as artists often paint what they know. There is a comfort level in using ordinary objects that are within immediate reach or people with whom they interact on a daily basis as their subject. Common objects, such as a shirt and tie or a missing shoe, are small details of our personal lives that are not usually given a second thought. Whether it is finding humor in the corporate workplace or discovering the beauty in colorful fruit, the viewer is forced to stop and look at the ordinary and relate to the art on a personal level.

OFF THE PAGE : Florida Book Art

Blindspin, Mixed Media/ Ink Jet Prints by Andrew Binder, 2011

The exhibition is curated by Leslie Madigan and will be on display in the Dorothy Johnson Gallery on the upper floor. It features eight Florida book artists reconfiguring the traditional book into unique works of art, challenging the viewer’s idea of what books are. The exhibition poses the question: What is an artist book? Is it a literary, sculptural, paper or mixed media work of art?

Off the Page will be curated and organized to allow audience exploration of the issues facing contemporary book artists. All of the works will be selected based on their narrative ability to communicate a story or tradition drawn from southern influence and will offer the public a comprehensive view of contemporary book making.

The included work will be one of a kind with a small selection of limited edition books using letterpress, offset print, digital and inkjet processes. A library environment with tables and chairs will be installed in one section of the gallery to provide the viewer with a quiet area for intimate observation. This is in contrast to the other spaces filled with books on shelves, wall pieces, and freestanding sculptural book forms.

The eight Florida book artists participating in this exhibit are Robert Beck-Winter Park, Andrew Binder-Fort Lauderdale, Linda Broadfoot-Atlantic Beach, Martin Casuso-Miami, Larry Cooper-Sanford, Ke Francis- Orlando, Anthony Rice-Sarasota and Tennille Davis Shuster-Oakland Park. The exhibition will be accompanied by a 36-page catalogue, produced by the Museum of Florida Art and indicative of the exhibition’s view of contemporary book making. The catalogue will be available for purchase at the museum gift shop.

The galleries are open Tuesday through Saturday from 10am to 4pm and on Sunday from 1pm to 4pm. In celebration of the museum’s 60th Anniversary, all 2011 admissions are free to Volusia County residents with an ID. Non-Residence admission is $5. Children under 12 are free.